Patrick McQuaid on getting AI into production without the hype
“If you're arguing about what model to use, you're having the wrong conversation.”
The episode
Patrick McQuaid runs data, AI and analytics at NGM Group, Australia's largest customer-owned bank. He has spent a career leading technical teams without being the most technical person in the room, across data, digital and analytics roles at NAB, Telstra and in consulting. His method is simple. Get the experts around a table, ask the right questions, and let the answer fall out.
Most companies are still stuck at the proof-of-concept. Patrick is past it, running AI in production inside a regulated bank, where people's money and privacy leave no room for demo-grade AI. He walks James through how he ships it, hiring for attitude over the AI specialists everyone is fighting over, keeping a human in the loop that turned out thicker than anyone expected, and getting the boring data foundations right before anyone reaches for a model. The part most people skip is the human one. He does not think AI can take verifying the work, telling the story, or building the relationships that get anything over the line.
What we get into
- Why "if you're arguing about what model to use, you're having the wrong conversation" is his test for whether a team is serious.
- Getting AI into production inside a regulated bank, and why the human in the loop turned out thicker than anyone expected.
- Who he hires: a few people with real depth, paired with high-attitude people who are curious and will have a go, over chasing scarce AI specialists.
- The three things he does not think AI takes from us: verifying the work, storytelling, and the relationships that get anything shipped.
- Get the data right first. Why nothing works with AI until the boring data foundations are in place.
- The risk and privacy questions a smaller company has to answer before it puts AI anywhere near customers.
Lines worth keeping
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“If you're arguing about what model to use, you're having the wrong conversation.”
“It's not enough to be right. You've actually got to be engaging. You've got to find allies. You've got to build support.”
“One of the core skills in the future that is unassailable by AI is the ability to build relationships and talk to people and communicate.”
“The more and more we deal with technology day in, day out, the more we also have this need and desire for human-to-human connection.”
Why it matters
As Australian companies rush to put AI into regulated, real-world operations, this episode moves the question from which model to buy to how you ship it safely, and who you need in the room to check it.
Chapters
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- How technical does a leader need to be
- Give your people room to play with the tools
- Is the junior engineer dead
- How he hires: depth plus the right attitude
- Under the hood, most of it is automation
- The human in the loop, and why it is thicker than you think
- Walking into the data and AI seat at a bank
- Get the data right before the AI
- How far ahead do you plan
- The changing nature of tech roles
- Remote, the office, and growing the next generation
- The legal and privacy risks nobody wants to touch
- The skills to lean into: attitude and curiosity
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